I struggled this year, in deciding where I was going to go and what route I would take.
I believe I finally decided two or three days before hand.
As you can tell, I'm not sure when I finally picked it, but I do know I mentioned it at least one day before hand.
Sorry... You didn't need to know all that... Go ahead and jump to the next paragraph.
And for those of you that can't play by the rules, you rebel!
You can read these extra sentences that have nothing to do with anything.
Around 7:30, I was finishing up getting everything on/in the trike. As seen here, all I have left is, put the camera in the bag, find a place for the tripod, put on my jacket, helmet and gloves. After that, it's just close the garage door and ride away.
I first rode over to Primeland to fill up the tank and the spare gallon can. I then headed to the blue bridge. At this point I tried to start the route on the GPS, but it kept telling me it didn't have enough memory. I finally pulled over at Lancer lanes, thinking that I was going to need to reboot it, but it started working before I got to that. This is also when it started tracking, which is why I don't know when I actually left the house. I do know that I left the lancer lanes parking lot at 8:07.
While I was stopped, I took the opportunity to adjust my back rest. Is what I had done is; I took the rain cover for my large bike bag and put two sleeping bags in it. Then I strapped it on the back seat. I also ended up putting the tripod and my sweatshirt in with the sleeping bags. It worked very well.
From there, I headed west on 12.
Now, before I get too far into the story, I should mention that I did check the weather, and was expecting what I encountered. That being, I knew I was going to pass through a stretch of rain clouds. It was a bit gloomy, even in Lewiston, but I knew I was heading into it as I was coming up over Alpowa summit.
Just past Pomeroy, it decided to really dump for just a minute or so. However, once I got past this strip of storm, it cleared right up and I was dry by the time I got to (I want to say Starbuck, but, at the very least...) the turn onto WA260. (Oh, Brad, I didn't go through Washtucna, I went south-west on WA260 over to WA17 instead.)
I pulled over on the edge of Connell to check my miles against the miles to the next gas station. I decided I had enough fuel to get me there, so I continued on.
Reaching WA17, I turned north and cruised for another 36 miles to Moses Lake, where I stopped to fuel up. (Brad, if you are counting, that is about a 150 mile run.) While I was here, I cleaned the bugs off the windshield, has some water and, since it was warming up, I stuffed my gauntlet gloves into my "back rest". I also noticed that the battery in the drift was dead, so I switch it and got out the stuff for the charger. I hooked it all together, tied the dead battery into the cradle and stuffed it up into the bag rain cover to charge. Once everything was set, I climbed back on the trike and got back on WA17 heading north again.
About 12 miles before the WA17 and WA282 junction an ambulance came up behind me lights a flashing. I don't know if it was that or the three motor homes in front of me that distracted me, but at the junction I kept going straight instead of turning of to stay on WA17. I only got 1/2 a mile before I got turned around. It wasn't long after that, when I pulled into Soap Lake.
I arrived at 11:30 and stopped at Moms European Food and Deli to buy a sandwich.
I'm not sure what nationality the lady is that helped me, but I'm guessing Slavic of some sort (maybe Russian or Czech).
I guess that because of her accent and many of the food labels appeared to be written in Cyrillic.
I stopped here because I had read some reviews online of the local fooderies and there was some high praise.
Once I had purchased my sandwich, I put it in the trunk and pulled back toward WA17. As I did, I noticed the ambulance that had passed me earlier, along with another ambulance, a couple houses down on the other side of the road. Anyway, I rode north to see if I could get close to the lake on the north side. There was a resort and several private properties along the north shore, so I was not able to get close. I did take a couple pictures from the road that I could get on.
I then proceeded to return to the south end of the lake and pulled into a park area with lake access. (Visitors Area) There was construction of some sort going on at the north end of the parking lot. I got parked, got my cameras, sandwich and water and headed to a table. While eating, I checked out some of the pictures and video I had taken. The sandwich was very good.
After I finished eating, I took a couple more pictures.
The text engraved on the stone reads:
"Calling the healing waters"
World's First Human Figure Sundial
Since its creation, Soap Lake has brought healing and therapeutic well being to its inhabitants.
The Soap Lake Garden Club began working on this sculpture in 1993, attracting the community into a
work of reconciliation and kinship. Memorial stones and pillars forever bear witness to contributors
donors and the hopes of generations to come. This sculpture evokes the divinty heritage and dreams
of the people whose hearts are in residence.
The sundial is set to solar time
Dedicated to the Community
by the Soap Lake Garden Club
June 20 2009
I packed back up and headed out to my next destination. Which in this case was south out of town and an east bound turn onto WA28.
As I was cruisin' along, I had a warm fuzzy feeling. No, it wasn't heart burn. It was just one of those calming, "boy, I really needed this" type feelings.
I slowed for the town of Odessa, and as I was glancing around at my surroundings, a farmer waved. (I assume he was a farmer based on the yard he was in.) It looked as though three people were just finishing up a conversation when he looked up to see me and waved. Sometimes the people that wave isn't surprising (like other bikers) but sometimes it's fun to see people wave that you wouldn't expect to. I say that in general, not that I wouldn't have expected a farmer to wave. Farmers are actually more likely to wave, especially in smaller towns where the farmers wave at almost anybody and everybody.
As I accelerated at the edge of town, it wasn't too much longer when I remembered that I forgot to take my pill with lunch. It may have had a little to do with the fact that my stump was "starting to feel it." It also wasn't much later that I made a mental note to check the distance to Colfax when I got to the next town.
So, I pulled into Harrington, turning off onto Main Street. I noticed a block ahead, a purple and silver Gold Wing Trike parked at a house. As I rode by, I could see another bike and a couple bikers sitting on lawn chairs under a tree in the front yard. They waved, no surprise.
After rounding the corner onto WA23, I pulled over to the side of the road. First, I took off my jackets. It was getting pretty warm and I was remembering fondly back when it was raining. I got my water and took a pill. Put my cameras away, and strapped my jacket to my back rest. I then, climbed back aboard and headed down the road.
Did you see my mistake? What I forgot to do? About a mile down the road the alarm on that mental note went off. "Oh well, I'm sure I'll be fine."
It wasn't very far after going under the overpass near Sprague that both the bike and the GPS said I was running low on fuel.
I pushed the "find me fuel" button on the GPS and the first one listed was in Colfax, which was the station I was planning for.
I told it to add it as a way point.
I set the gauge on the bike to show how many miles I had until I was out of fuel.
As I was pulling into the station, the number was 13 miles.
I killed the motor and got the camera out of the trunk.
By the time I got back to the gauge, it had climbed back up to 16.
I put the camera back in the trunk and then filled up. 4.906 gallons later. I wasn't worried, that's why I carry that extra gallon on the back.
I almost pulled away without cleaning the windshield, but that big dark brown splat reminded me before I pulled away. I scrubbed the bugs off the windshield and headlight, then once again climbed on and headed on my way.
As I passed the Pullman turn off, I took note of the time. 15:45. Brad, on one hand, I think you could have made it to golf by 16:05 (only 5 minutes late). On the other hand, if you had gone with me, you would have made me stop three times more often which would have put you way too late for your 16:25 tee off.
If you haven't noticed yet, I had a previous conversation with Brad about the trip.
I was pulling off the Lewiston hill at 16:18. And as we (me and the cars around me) came around the corner I noticed a couple police cars on Memorial Bridge with their lights flashing. As we in the right lane tried to merge into the center lane, traffic slowed a bit. Turns out there were three police vehicles, and some police talking to someone off to the side.
Before I went home, I made a quick stop at a friend's house and then went home, unloaded the trike and then took off my leg. Ahhh. That feels better.
And with that, 380 miles and 7.5 to 8 hours later, this years trip comes to a close.
Happy Solstice to all, and to all a good night.
